These timelines visualize the duration and extent of California’s #wildfires https://t.co/IEZZIIHfks pic.twitter.com/9YKMcM9j2K
— w00t viz! (@w00tviz) January 23, 2018
I love well designed graphics, and this one from Axios certainly falls into that category. It shows the time of the year wildfires larger than 300 acres occurred in California.
Click on the chart a couple of times to see a larger version.
Friday of last week news broke that John Hawkins, the longtime chief of the CAL FIRE Riverside Unit and Riverside County Fire Department, was suddenly removed from his position. There was no immediate permanent successor identified and he is being temporarily replaced by Deputy Chief Dan Talbot. Chief Hawkins’ firefighting career has spanned 54 years and he had been in his County Chief position for 12 years.
The local newspaper, the Press-Enterprise, published a story late Tuesday afternoon providing a little more information, reporting that it was a CAL FIRE decision, and not a move by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors:
“CAL FIRE made the decision that it was time for new leadership,” said [County Supervisor Kevin] Jeffries, a former volunteer fire captain. “There was no scandalous events that occurred, nothing exciting like that. It was just a leadership change that CAL FIRE felt was important and we were kind of kept in the loop a little bit. But it was a decision of CAL FIRE.”
Chief Hawkins was not only the Chief of the CAL FIRE units in Riverside County protecting state responsibility areas in the Southern California County, but he also supervised the CAL FIRE resources that provide services under contract to Riverside County, which is the 4th-most populous county in California and the 11th-most populous in the United States.
(This article was first published on Fire Aviation)
Click on the image above to start the video. Then, to see a second video, click on the arrow on the right side of the image.
Instagram user “charltondurie” grabbed this photo and video of Air Tanker 912, a DC-10, dropping retardant on a fire about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia that has burned 1,880 ha (4,645 acres) northeast of Taralga between Bannaby and Wombeyan Caves.
A huge fire in the Pilliga Forest between Coonabarabran and Narrabri has blackened over 57,880 hectares (143,000 acres).
Lightning ignited multiple fires across the Blue Mountains and Yengo National Parks in NSW Monday evening. There are two fires burning in remote areas to the north of the Great Western Highway in the Grose Valley, Blue Mountains National Park and an additional six fires south of the Great Western Highway and north of Warragamba Dam in the Blue Labyrinth, Blue Mountains National Park. The aircraft is named “Nancy Bird” after an Australian aviatrix.
There is also one fire in the Yengo National Park, east of the Putty Road in the Hawkesbury.
These lightning fires are burning in remote areas. NSW Rural Fire Service and National Parks and Wildlife Remote Area Firefighters have worked to establish and consolidate containment lines with the support of air tankers.
Click on the image above to start the video. Then, to see a second video, click on the arrow on the right side of the image.
Instagram user “charltondurie” grabbed this photo and video of Air Tanker 912, a DC-10, dropping retardant on a fire about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia that has burned 1,880 ha (4,645 acres) northeast of Taralga, between Bannaby and Wombeyan Caves. The aircraft is named “Nancy Bird” after an Australian aviatrix.
A huge fire in the Pilliga Forest between Coonabarabran and Narrabri has blackened over 57,880 hectares (143,000 acres).
Lightning ignited multiple fires across the Blue Mountains and Yengo National Parks in NSW Monday evening. There are two fires burning in remote areas to the north of the Great Western Highway in the Grose Valley, Blue Mountains National Park and an additional six fires south of the Great Western Highway and north of Warragamba Dam in the Blue Labyrinth, Blue Mountains National Park.
There is also one fire in the Yengo National Park, east of the Putty Road in the Hawkesbury.
These lightning fires are burning in remote areas. NSW Rural Fire Service and National Parks and Wildlife Remote Area Firefighters have worked to establish and consolidate containment lines with the support of air tankers.
An economics researcher found that infants’ proximity to smoke pollution while in utero affects birth weight.
Continue reading
Above: Chief John Hawkins speaking at the 9th IAWF Wildland Fire Safety Summit in Pasadena, April, 2006. IAWF photo by Bill Gabbert.
(Originally published at 12:05 p.m. MST January 20, 2018)
John R. Hawkins, the longtime chief of the CAL FIRE Riverside Unit and Riverside County Fire Department was suddenly removed from his position Friday. Chief Hawkins’ firefighting career has spanned 54 years and he had been in his County Chief position for 12 years.
Replacing him temporarily is Deputy Chief Dan Talbot.
Below is an excerpt from an article in the Idyllwild Town Crier:
“All I have right now is Chief Hawkins is no longer the fire chief and the department has put an intern chief in as of now. Chief Hawkins is still an employee and that’s all I have as is now,” said CAL FIRE Chief Mike Mohler of the Southern Region Communications for CAL FIRE’s South Ops.
Chief Hawkins was the CAL FIRE Incident Commander for the 2003 Cedar Fire that burned 273,000 acres in San Diego County. He is beloved by many and is a very dynamic speaker sought after for conferences and training.
The agency is looking at a range of alternatives, including the C-130, but no decisions have been made
Continue readingResearch results were published January 17, 2018
Continue readingAt noon EST Friday, January 19, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget said in a briefing at the White House that if Congress can’t agree on a federal budget or continuing resolution by Friday night, “firefighters will work but not get paid”. Parks will stay open, Director Mick Mulvaney said, but some services in the parks would be suspended.
The video below includes Mr. Mulvaney’s statement about firefighters and parks.
There have been a number of government shutdowns over the last few decades when the Senators and Congressmen have failed to do their jobs and pass budgets. As far as I know, in all cases when “essential” personnel like firefighters continued to work, they eventually were paid for the time served during the shutdown. Up to 80 percent of federal employees have worked through shutdowns in at least one example.
Staffing currently remains uncertain pending legislation. If the shutdown occurs, we are required by law to refrain from conducting any work-related activities unless the role is considered “essential” (fire fighters, law enforcement). Please note this if you have any needs. pic.twitter.com/bOCKuXBAFq
— Cleveland NF (@ClevelandNF) January 19, 2018
Above: The Pilliga Fire 60 km southwest of Narrabri, New South Wales, Australia. Modified Copernicus Sentinel satellite data processed by Pierre Markuse.
(Originally published at 8:46 MST January 19, 2018)
The Pilliga Fire in Australia between #Coonabarabran and #Narrabri has burned approximately 20,000 hectares (49,400 acres) in New South Wales, requiring the closure of the Newell Highway. The fire is burning near Dipper Road, Dandry, in the Pilliga Forest west of the highway.
The Rural Fire Service reports that smoke is likely to drift across the Wee Waa, Gwabegar, and Baradine areas. There is, however, no current threat to homes.
